Disneyland Memories

After Christmas, we abandoned real life and went on a trip to Disneyland. Scotty and I went to Disneyland for our anniversary last May, but our kids hadn’t been since December of 2019 (with the exception of Nicky who went for theatre last year). We were excited to go again as a family.  

Real Quick

When we first walked into Disneyland, I told my kids to stand in front of the big Christmas tree “real quick” for a photo. I always say “real quick,” and then it’s never real quick because Eva always puts up a stink and either refuses to be in the photo altogether or won’t cooperate with her face (see exhibits A & B below).

This time, for what might be the first time ever, all four kids gathered, posed, and smiled, and we did “real quick” for real! They can do it! It is possible!

Exhibit A: Eva refuses to smile

Exhibit B: Eva refuses to get in photo

Side note: Zoe was absolutely in love with this new fountain in Toon Town especially when it lit up at night

The Nap

Scotty can sleep anywhere, so he gets his fair share of naps when we go to Disneyland. He was sleeping in the middle of Toon Town on the first day, when a curious two-year-old came and hovered over him looking at him like “What on earth is this man doing?”

The wee lad ended up laying down, too! It seems he thought a nap was a good idea. We watched him and laughed hysterically at his intrigue for over ten minutes. He ended up becoming our little buddy. Then when we had to leave, he started crying. He didn’t want us to go! 

Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!

On the first day in Disneyland we got stuck on the Haunted Mansion for a really long time listening to the same chaotic measures of song over... and over... and over... When the ride finally started again, I'm pretty sure we were all insane and possibly murderous. 

The week we were there was the last week of Christmas at Disneyland, so the Haunted Mansion was still Nightmare Before Christmas, and it truly was a nightmare. 

Birthday Churros

Please note my photogenic 8-year-old

Our friend Mark sponsored churros for my birthday. Thanks, Mark! That was fun and thoughtful.

Feed Bags

I tried to change up our food routine by bringing some new food into the park. You can only eat so many sandwiches… so one day I brought chicken pasta salad, and another day I brought spaghetti noodles with parmesan, which we ate out of Ziploc bags while waiting in line. It gave us a good laugh, especially since the kids kept dropping spaghetti noodles all over the ground, so we left a pasta trail throughout the entire Matterhorn queue.

Matterhorn

Scotty and I often joke that we planned our family so we could fill a whole Matterhorn train or an entire car on Radiator Springs

Park Food

Christmas ice cream from the Cozy Cone

We take a ton of food into the park, but we also buy some goodies there. We share a lot of park snacks. This time we had churros, ice cream, sourdough bread, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, breakfast chimichangas, regular chimichangas, Tigger tails, beignets, and a lot of Coke.

These two were rather difficult on this trip (especially Zoe), so we started throwing anything at them to keep them pleasant. 32 oz Coke? Sure. Just stop fighting!

Chimichanga

Buy Your Own

We’ve purchased souvenirs for the kids in the past, but this time we told them we weren’t sponsoring any, so if they wanted something, they had to buy it themselves. Nicky bought an Indiana Jones sweatshirt. Zoe bought two little stuffed animals - a Mickey and a Pooh. Eva bought a little Stitch and a Groot toy. Daisy didn’t buy anything. 

Most of our “souvenirs” came in the form of random things we found around the parks. People hide stuff in the ride queues, and Scotty and Nicky have a knack for finding things. Nicky came home with a huge collection of stuff including three legit Disney pins and tons of plastic jungle animals. 

The Win

Zoe & me on Midway Mania

None of us have ever been able to beat Scotty at Midway Mania, but this time, Nicky finally got him! Here is a photo of Nicky and Daisy when they found out Nicky won:

We Didn’t Know

…that there are possums in Disneyland, but I overheard someone talking about possums, and that same night, lo and behold, a possum!

Firsts

Besides seeing our first possum in Disneyland, we hit a few other milestones this trip. Eva was able to ride Indiana Jones and Incredicoaster for the first time. She and Zoe both steered the cars on Autopia, but they weren’t very good with the gas pedal.

I was so happy that Eva liked Incredicoaster. 

She rode it several times. 

The Monks Unite

On our last night in California, we came back to the hotel to find it full of Buddhist monks. Hundreds of them! They were attending a World Peace Gathering at the nearby convention center. It was quite a sight to see!

The Birthday

I'm out of order here because now I'm going back to my birthday, which was day two of our trip. We left home on New Year's Eve and stayed the night in Saint George. 

Don't be fooled - Saint George was actually freezing, so they're suffering in the pool

Playing Bohnanza at the hotel with Nicky wearing Eva's comfi

Sitting outside by the fire watching fireworks

(again... freezing... don't let those t-shirts fool you!)

Early the next morning (my birthday), we left Saint George (trying to beat the New Year Vegas traffic - we mostly succeeded but had a stop and go session for a while). Things to note: the Luxor is currently a Dorito.

We stopped at the the World's Largest Chevron (Terrible's Road House) about 30 miles outside of Vegas), and I got a Coke. There was straw drama (the straw options were too long or too short), and the Coke tasted awful. 

The straw situation is pathetic

The Coke at Terrible's was terrible!

(Last time we stopped at that gas station, the power went out. I think we need to quit going there).

Upon arrival, we hung out at the beach for a while before checking into our hotel. 

Nicky on the rocks

Then we took turns microwaving plates of my birthday dinner. I made and packed pot roast with carrots, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I also brought two red velvet bundtlets from Nothing Bundt Cakes, so... birthday cake! 

Birthday dinner

And that was my 40th birthday. 

----------

Even though this wasn't our best trip, we still have a lot of good memories. Hopefully we make good memories somewhere else for a while.